Abstract: The need of high frame-rate imaging has been triggered by the new applications of ultrasound imaging to transient elastography and real-time 3D ultrasound. Using plane wave excitation (PWE) is one of the methods to achieve very high frame-rate imaging since an image can be formed with a single insonification. However, due to the lack of transmit focusing, the image quality with PWE is lower compared with those using conventional focused transmission. To solve this problem, we propose a filter-retrieved transmit focusing (FRF) technique combined with cross-correlation weighting (FRF+CC weighting) for high frame-rate imaging with PWE. A restrospective focusing filter is designed to simultaneously minimize the predefined sidelobe energy associated with single PWE and the filter energy related to the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). This filter attempts to maintain the mainlobe signals and to reduce the sidelobe ones, which gives similar mainlobe signals and different sidelobes between the original PWE and the FRF baseband data. Normalized cross-correlation coefficient at zero lag is calculated to quantify the degree of similarity at each imaging point and used as a weighting matrix to the FRF baseband data to further suppress sidelobes, thus improving the filter-retrieved focusing quality.
Abstract: In a world worried about water resources with the
shadow of drought and famine looming all around, the quality of
water is as important as its quantity. The source of all concerns is the
constant reduction of per capita quality water for different uses.
Iran With an average annual precipitation of 250 mm compared to
the 800 mm world average, Iran is considered a water scarce country
and the disparity in the rainfall distribution, the limitations of
renewable resources and the population concentration in the margins
of desert and water scarce areas have intensified the problem.
The shortage of per capita renewable freshwater and its poor
quality in large areas of the country, which have saline, brackish or
hard water resources, and the profusion of natural and artificial
pollutant have caused the deterioration of water quality.
Among methods of treatment and use of these waters one can refer
to the application of membrane technologies, which have come into
focus in recent years due to their great advantages. This process is
quite efficient in eliminating multi-capacity ions; and due to the
possibilities of production at different capacities, application as
treatment process in points of use, and the need for less energy in
comparison to Reverse Osmosis processes, it can revolutionize the
water and wastewater sector in years to come. The article studied the
different capacities of water resources in the Persian Gulf and Oman
Sea watershed basins, and processes the possibility of using
nanofiltration process to treat brackish and non-conventional waters
in these basins.
Abstract: Urban non-point source (NPS) pollution for a
residential catchment in Miri, Sarawak was investigated for two storm events in 2011. Runoff from two storm events were sampled and tested for water quality parameters including TSS, BOD5, COD,
NH3-N, NO3-N, NO2-N, P and Pb. Concentration of the water quality
parameters was found to vary significantly between storms and the pollutant of concern was found to be NO3-N, TSS, COD and Pb. Results were compared to the Interim National Water Quality
Standards for Malaysia (INWQS),and the stormwater runoff from the
study can be classified as polluted, exceeding class III water quality,
especially in terms of TSS, COD, and NH3-N with maximum EMCs
of 158, 135, and 2.17 mg/L, respectively.
Abstract: The shortest path (SP) problem concerns with finding the shortest path from a specific origin to a specified destination in a given network while minimizing the total cost associated with the path. This problem has widespread applications. Important applications of the SP problem include vehicle routing in transportation systems particularly in the field of in-vehicle Route Guidance System (RGS) and traffic assignment problem (in transportation planning). Well known applications of evolutionary methods like Genetic Algorithms (GA), Ant Colony Optimization, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) have come up to solve complex optimization problems to overcome the shortcomings of existing shortest path analysis methods. It has been reported by various researchers that PSO performs better than other evolutionary optimization algorithms in terms of success rate and solution quality. Further Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have emerged as key information systems for geospatial data analysis and visualization. This research paper is focused towards the application of PSO for solving the shortest path problem between multiple points of interest (POI) based on spatial data of Allahabad City and traffic speed data collected using GPS. Geovisualization of results of analysis is carried out in GIS.
Abstract: This paper presents a hybrid fuzzy-PD plus PID
(HFPP) controller and its application to steam distillation process for
essential oil extraction system. Steam temperature is one of the most
significant parameters that can influence the composition of essential
oil yield. Due to parameter variations and changes in operation
conditions during distillation, a robust steam temperature controller becomes nontrivial to avoid the degradation of essential oil quality.
Initially, the PRBS input is triggered to the system and output of steam temperature is modeled using ARX model structure. The
parameter estimation and tuning method is adopted by simulation
using HFPP controller scheme. The effectiveness and robustness of
proposed controller technique is validated by real time
implementation to the system. The performance of HFPP using 25 and 49 fuzzy rules is compared. The experimental result demonstrates the proposed HFPP using 49 fuzzy rules achieves a
better, consistent and robust controller compared to PID when considering the test on tracking the set point and the effects due to disturbance.
Abstract: The mosaicing technique has been employed in more and more application fields, from entertainment to scientific ones. In the latter case, often the final evaluation is still left to human beings, that assess visually the quality of the mosaic. Many times, a lack of objective measurements in microscopic mosaicing may prevent the mosaic from being used as a starting image for further analysis. In this work we analyze three different metrics and indexes, in the domain of signal analysis, image analysis and visual quality, to measure the quality of different aspects of the mosaicing procedure, such as registration errors and visual quality. As the case study we consider the mosaicing algorithm we developed. The experiments have been carried out by considering mosaics with very different features: histological samples, that are made of detailed and contrasted images, and live stem cells, that show a very low contrast and low detail levels.
Abstract: The prediction of Software quality during development life cycle of software project helps the development organization to make efficient use of available resource to produce the product of highest quality. “Whether a module is faulty or not" approach can be used to predict quality of a software module. There are numbers of software quality prediction models described in the literature based upon genetic algorithms, artificial neural network and other data mining algorithms. One of the promising aspects for quality prediction is based on clustering techniques. Most quality prediction models that are based on clustering techniques make use of K-means, Mixture-of-Guassians, Self-Organizing Map, Neural Gas and fuzzy K-means algorithm for prediction. In all these techniques a predefined structure is required that is number of neurons or clusters should be known before we start clustering process. But in case of Growing Neural Gas there is no need of predetermining the quantity of neurons and the topology of the structure to be used and it starts with a minimal neurons structure that is incremented during training until it reaches a maximum number user defined limits for clusters. Hence, in this work we have used Growing Neural Gas as underlying cluster algorithm that produces the initial set of labeled cluster from training data set and thereafter this set of clusters is used to predict the quality of test data set of software modules. The best testing results shows 80% accuracy in evaluating the quality of software modules. Hence, the proposed technique can be used by programmers in evaluating the quality of modules during software development.
Abstract: Contour filter strips planted with perennial vegetation
can be used to improve surface and ground water quality by reducing
pollutant, such as NO3-N, and sediment outflow from cropland to a
river or lake. Meanwhile, the filter strips of perennial grass with biofuel
potentials also have economic benefits of producing ethanol. In
this study, The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was
applied to the Walnut Creek Watershed to examine the effectiveness
of contour strips in reducing NO3-N outflows from crop fields to the
river or lake. Required input data include watershed topography,
slope, soil type, land-use, management practices in the watershed and
climate parameters (precipitation, maximum/minimum air
temperature, solar radiation, wind speed and relative humidity).
Numerical experiments were conducted to identify potential
subbasins in the watershed that have high water quality impact, and
to examine the effects of strip size and location on NO3-N reduction
in the subbasins under various meteorological conditions (dry,
average and wet). Variable sizes of contour strips (10%, 20%, 30%
and 50%, respectively, of a subbasin area) planted with perennial
switchgrass were selected for simulating the effects of strip size and
location on stream water quality. Simulation results showed that a
filter strip having 10%-50% of the subbasin area could lead to 55%-
90% NO3-N reduction in the subbasin during an average rainfall
year. Strips occupying 10-20% of the subbasin area were found to be
more efficient in reducing NO3-N when placed along the contour
than that when placed along the river. The results of this study can
assist in cost-benefit analysis and decision-making in best water
resources management practices for environmental protection.
Abstract: With the increase of economic behavior and the upgrade
of living standar, the ratio for people in Taiwan who own automobiles
and motorcycles have recently increased with multiples. Therefore,
parking issues will be a big challenge to facilitate traffic network and
ensure urban life quality. The Parking Guidance and Information
System is one of important systems for Advanced Traveler Information
Services (ATIS). This research proposes a parking guidance and
information system which integrates GPS and 3G network for a map on
the Geographic Information System to solution inadequate of roadside
information kanban. The system proposed in this study mainly includes
Parking Host, Parking Guidance and Information Server, Geographic
Map and Information System as well as Parking Guidance and
Information Browser. The study results show this system can increase
driver-s efficiency to find parking space and efficiently enhance
parking convenience in comparison with roadside kanban system.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel control strategy of a threephase
four-wire Unified Power Quality (UPQC) for an improvement
in power quality. The UPQC is realized by integration of series and
shunt active power filters (APFs) sharing a common dc bus capacitor.
The shunt APF is realized using a thee-phase, four leg voltage source
inverter (VSI) and the series APF is realized using a three-phase,
three leg VSI. A control technique based on unit vector template
technique (UTT) is used to get the reference signals for series APF,
while instantaneous sequence component theory (ISCT) is used for
the control of Shunt APF. The performance of the implemented
control algorithm is evaluated in terms of power-factor correction,
load balancing, neutral source current mitigation and mitigation of
voltage and current harmonics, voltage sag and swell in a three-phase
four-wire distribution system for different combination of linear and
non-linear loads. In this proposed control scheme of UPQC, the
current/voltage control is applied over the fundamental supply
currents/voltages instead of fast changing APFs currents/voltages,
there by reducing the computational delay and the required sensors.
MATLAB/Simulink based simulations are obtained, which support
the functionality of the UPQC. MATLAB/Simulink based
simulations are obtained, which support the functionality of the
UPQC.
Abstract: In the context of global climate change, flooding and sea level rise is increasingly threatening coastal urban areas, in which large population is continuously concentrated. Dutch experiences in urban water system management provide high reference value for sustainable coastal urban development projects. Preliminary studies shows the urban water system in Almere, a typical Dutch polder city, have three kinds of operational modes, achieving functions as: (1) coastline control – strong multiple damming system prevents from storm surges and maintains sufficient capacity upon risks; (2) high flexibility – large area and widely scattered open water system greatly reduce local runoff and water level fluctuation; (3) internal water maintenance – weir and sluice system maintains relatively stable water level, providing excellent boating and landscaping service, coupling with water circulating model maintaining better water quality. Almere has provided plenty of hints and experiences for ongoing development of coastal cities in emerging economies.
Abstract: Performance of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) multiband
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) ultrawideband
(UWB) signal generation using frequency quadrupling
technique and transmission over fiber is experimentally investigated.
The frequency quadrupling is achived by using only one Mach-
Zehnder modulator (MZM) that is biased at maximum transmission
(MATB) point. At the output, a frequency quadrupling signal is
obtained then sent to a second MZM. This MZM is used for MBOFDM
UWB signal modulation. In this work, we demonstrate 30-
GHz mm-wave wireless that carries three-bands OFDM UWB
signals, and error vector magnitude (EVM) is used to analyze the
transmission quality. It is found that our proposed technique leads to
an improvement of 3.5 dB in EVM at 40% of local oscillator (LO)
modulation with comparison to the technique using two cascaded
MZMs biased at minimum transmission (MITB) point.
Abstract: One of the determinants of a firm-s prosperity is the
customers- perceived service quality and satisfaction. While service
quality is wide in scope, and consists of various dimensions, there
may be differences in the relative importance of these dimensions in
affecting customers- overall satisfaction of service quality.
Identifying the relative rank of different dimensions of service quality
is very important in that it can help managers to find out which
service dimensions have a greater effect on customers- overall
satisfaction. Such an insight will consequently lead to more effective
resource allocation which will finally end in higher levels of
customer satisfaction. This issue –despite its criticality- has not
received enough attention so far. Therefore, using a sample of 240
bank customers in Iran, an artificial neural network is developed to
address this gap in the literature. As customers- evaluation of service
quality is a subjective process, artificial neural networks –as a brain
metaphor- may appear to have a potentiality to model such a
complicated process. Proposing a neural network which is able to
predict the customers- overall satisfaction of service quality with a
promising level of accuracy is the first contribution of this study. In
addition, prioritizing the service quality dimensions in affecting
customers- overall satisfaction –by using sensitivity analysis of
neural network- is the second important finding of this paper.
Abstract: Glaucoma diagnosis involves extracting three features
of the fundus image; optic cup, optic disc and vernacular. Present
manual diagnosis is expensive, tedious and time consuming. A
number of researches have been conducted to automate this process.
However, the variability between the diagnostic capability of an
automated system and ophthalmologist has yet to be established. This
paper discusses the efficiency and variability between
ophthalmologist opinion and digital technique; threshold. The
efficiency and variability measures are based on image quality
grading; poor, satisfactory or good. The images are separated into
four channels; gray, red, green and blue. A scientific investigation
was conducted on three ophthalmologists who graded the images
based on the image quality. The images are threshold using multithresholding
and graded as done by the ophthalmologist. A
comparison of grade from the ophthalmologist and threshold is made.
The results show there is a small variability between result of
ophthalmologists and digital threshold.
Abstract: Knowledge of patterns of genetic diversity enhances
the efficiency of germplasm conservation and improvement. In this
study 96 Iranian landraces of Triticum turgidum originating from
different geographical areas of Iran, along with 18 durum cultivars
from ten countries were evaluated for variation in morphological and
high molecular weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) composition.
The first two principal components clearly separated the Iranian
landraces from cultivars. Three alleles were present at the Glu-A1
locus and 11 alleles at Glu-B1. In both cultivars and landraces of
durum wheat, the null allele (Glu-A1c) was observed more
frequently than the Glu-A1a and Glu-A1b alleles. Two alleles,
namely Glu-B1a (subunit 7) and Glu-B1e (subunit 20) represented
the more frequent alleles at Glu-B1 locus. The results showed that
the evaluated Iranian landraces formed an interesting source of
favourable glutenin subunits that might be very desirable in breeding
activities for improving pasta-making quality.